There are eight of us going on the Grand Princess in Feb 2001, and we have heard some real alarming news of theft, rape and other real bad things that have been happening aboard cruise ships. I would like to hear from anyone who has been on a cruise if they have experienced anything like this, and if so, which ship were you on, and what type of security did the carrier offer.

If you're referring to the recent A&E Investigative Reports "Ships In Troubled Waters", I thought it was overblown and sensationalized. Use common sense and I'm sure you'll be fine: use your room safe; do not leave valuables unattended in public areas; be aware of, and report to a deck officer any suspicious or inappropriate behaviour by crew or other passengers. I have never experienced problems, but as with anywhere, occasionally problems arrise. All Princess ships have secutity officers in 'plain clothes' posing as passengers.

I also watched that program and agree with Bumble Bee that it was sensationalized. It would not have been a good piece if the title was Cruising is safe.

By having the onboard accounts, the cruiselines have pretty much eliminated the need for passengers to carry money and credit cards on board ship. This reduces the possibilities of theft. My sister won a large sum of cash playing Bingo on one cruiseline. Security was very tight around her while her board was being verified and the cruiseline also placed her winnings in an envelope and had her sign over the sealed flap. Security took her with that envelope to the casino and placed the envelope in the casino safe until the end of the cruise. They went out of their way to ensure that no one would have an opportunity to steal her winnings by making it known that she and the money were under security watch.

Good judgement is required to stay out of trouble no matter what you do, no matter where you go!

I took my first cruise 41 years ago and have been cruising on a regular basis ever since. In that time I have never been raped, never been assaulted and never been robbed. I take the normal precautions anyone would take anywhere where there are lots of people. In otherwords, I don't take much cash, really just enough for tipping and shoreside cabs, I leave the real jewelry at home and just take outrageous costume jewelry and I am always with my friends. That way I tempt no one. Besides which I've made it to my sixties so rape fantasies on the parts of those rare shipboard people who do things like that, are aimed at younger women. By the way, as always, some of these rapes, not all of them, are nothing more than seduction gone too far.

RDP,
In all the cruises we've taken not once have we had any security problems, I think that show was blown out of proportion just a little. Most ships have small safes in your cabin to keep anything important and not much use to carry lots of cash while cruising anyway. I certainly wouldn't worry overly about this, just be smart and be aware of people around you. I certainly wouldn't not cruise because of this, enjoy!

One of the items in that A&E special was the disappearance of Amy Fisher with lots of interviews with her parents. Interestingly, a few days after the A&E special, a judge threw out the Fisher's lawsuit against Royal Caribbean and forbade them to ever sue them again. The judge is even thinking about instituting fraud charges against the Fishers. They were asked to give the court the names of witnesses who had claimed to have seem Amy. The Fishers gave the court three names of people who said they'd seen her being forcibly removed from the ship. They didn't give the court the names of the over 100 people who've seen Amy in Curacao, not under duress at all. It appears she jumped ship by herself and has no desire to go home. Interesting how the media gets it one way and the courts another way. I'll go along with the courts. I always felt she was either dead or had done this because she wanted to.

In six cruises, the worst "security problem" that I have ever seen on a cruise ship involved a situation in which two women whom the cruise line matched as roommates under "guaranteed share" bookings had to share a room with only one safe. One locked the safe without telling the other the combination, so the other woman had to call the purser's desk to open it in order to retrieve her jewelry for the Captain's Cocktail Party. Of course, the second woman relocked the safe with a different combination so the first woman had to call the purser's desk again to get her jewelry for dinner.

Yes, unfortunately it did really happen -- to Marie and Sharon aboard MV Ocean Princess last March. The Pursor's Desk must have loved that one, as they got called to override the combination on the same safe twice within an hour!